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Dilemma 7: Push Versus Pull ■ 161

Conclusion

Servant-leaders are competent in connecting the mirror and
the window (see preceding table) with each other. Precisely
how this is done is dependent on the culture. In internally
oriented cultures, determination will be the starting point,
after which that trait is placed in the service of modesty.
Externally oriented cultures prefer to depart from a dis-
creet attitude, to achieve on the basis of pure resolve. The
dilemma is the same for all cultures. What differs is the
place where you enter the circle.

Resolution
But what should Peter Webber do with all of this? What is an
appropriate reaction to the resistance between technologi-
cal push and market pull? As a servant-leader, he should use
the fantastic market knowledge of the southern European
and African countries to improve internal processes. There-
after, he should use the effi cient internal processes, which
lead to lower costs, in order to serve the client better.
In the next round of personal reviews, he could ask the
northern Europeans, “What have you done with the SAP
implementation to serve our clients better?” and “What
have you done with the client so that the SAP implementa-
tion was improved?” Through servant-leadership, the out-
side world serves the inside world and vice versa.

We Say Good-Bye to Peter Webber

Throughout each of the dilemmas, we have followed Peter
Webber and his company as Peter learned to reconcile the
dilemmas in his capacity as a servant-leader. Neither Peter’s
problems nor his solutions are unique—except for the